Adjectives

Definition
Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing in the sentence. The
Articles a, an, and the are adjectives.
the tall professor
the lugubrious lieutenant
a solid commitment
a month's pay
a six-year-old child
the unhappiest, richest man
f a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adjective, it is called an Adjective
Clause. !y sister, who is much older than am, is an engineer. f an adjective clause is stripped
of its subject and verb, the resulting modifier becomes an Adjective Phrase" #e is the man who
is $eeping my family in the poorhouse.
%efore getting into other usage considerations, one general note about the use or over-use
of adjectives" Adjectives are frail; don't ask them to do more work than they should. &et
your broad-shouldered verbs and nouns do the hard wor$ of description. %e particularly cautious
in your use of adjectives that don't have much to say in the first place" interesting, beautiful,
lovely, exciting. t is your job as a writer to create beauty and excitement and interest, and when
you simply insist on its presence without showing it to your reader well, you're convincing no
one.
'onsider the uses of modifiers in this adjectivally rich paragraph from Thomas (olfe's Look
Homeward, Angel. )'harles *cribner's, +,-,, p. .,./ Adjectives are highlighted in this color0
participles, verb forms acting as adjectives, are highlighted in this blue. *ome people would argue
that words that are part of a name li$e 12ast ndia Tea #ouse are not really adjectival and
that possessive nouns father's, farmer's are not technically adjectives, but we've included
them in our analysis of (olfe's text.
#e remembered yet the 2ast ndia Tea #ouse at the 3air, the sandalwood, the turbans, and the
robes, the cool interior and the smell of ndia tea0 and he had felt now the nostalgic thrill of dew-
wet mornings in *pring, the cherry scent, the cool clarion earth, the wet loaminess of the garden,
the pungent brea$fast smells and the floating snow of blossoms. #e $new the inchoate sharp
excitement of hot dandelions in young earth0 in 4uly, of watermelons bedded in sweet hay, inside
a farmer's covered wagon0 of cantaloupe and crated peaches0 and the scent of orange rind, bitter-
sweet, before a fire of coals. #e $new the good male smell of his father's sitting-room0 of the
smooth worn leather sofa, with the gaping horse-hair rent0 of the blistered varnished wood upon
the hearth0 of the heated calf-s$in bindings0 of the flat moist plug of apple tobacco, stuc$ with a
red flag0 of wood-smo$e and burnt leaves in 5ctober0 of the brown tired autumn earth0 of honey-
suc$le at night0 of warm nasturtiums, of a clean ruddy farmer who comes wee$ly with printed
butter, eggs, and mil$0 of fat limp underdone bacon and of coffee0 of a ba$ery-oven in the wind0
of large deep-hued stringbeans smo$ing-hot and seasoned well with salt and butter0 of a room of
old pine boards in which boo$s and carpets have been stored, long closed0 of 'oncord grapes in
their long white bas$ets.
An abundance of adjectives li$e this would be uncommon in contemporary prose. (hether we
have lost something or not is left up to you.
Position of Adjectives
6nli$e Adverbs, which often seem capable of popping up almost anywhere in a sentence,
adjectives nearly always appear immediately before the noun or noun phrase that they modify.
*ometimes they appear in a string of adjectives, and when they do, they appear in a set order
according to category. )*ee Below./ (hen indefinite pronouns such as something, someone,
anybody are modified by an adjective, the adjective comes after the pronoun"
Anyone capable of doing something horrible to someone nice should be punished.
*omething wic$ed this way comes.
And there are certain adjectives that, in combination with certain words, are always
1postpositive1 )coming after the thing they modify/"
The president elect, heir apparent to the 7lit8y fortune, lives in 9ew :or$ proper.
*ee, also, the note on a- adjectives, below, for the position of such words as 1abla8e, aloof,
aghast.1
Derees of Adjectives
Adjectives can express degrees of modification"
7ladys is a rich woman, but 4osie is richer than 7ladys, and *adie is the richest woman in
town.
The degrees of comparison are $nown as the !ositive, the
com!arative, and the su!erlative. )Actually, only the
comparative and superlative show degrees./ (e use the
comparative for comparing two things and the superlative for
comparing three or more things. 9otice that the word than
fre;uently accompanies the comparative and the word the
precedes the superlative. The inflected suffixes -er and -est
Click on the "scary bear" to
read and hear George
suffice to form most comparatives and superlatives, although
we need -ier and -iest when a two-syllable adjective ends in y
)happier and happiest/0 otherwise we use more and most when
an adjective has more than one syllable.
Newall's "Unpack Your
Adjectives" (ro!
"cholastic #ock$ %&'()*
"choolhouse #ock+ and its
characters and other
ele!ents are trade!arks and
service !arks o A!erican
,roadcasting Co!panies$ -nc*
Used with per!ission*
Positive Com!arative "u!erlative
rich richer richest
lovely lovelier loveliest
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
'ertain adjectives have irregular forms in the comparative and superlative degrees"
#rreular Com!arative and "u!erlative $orms
good better best
bad worse worst
little less least
much
many
some
more most
far further furthest
%e careful not to form comparatives or superlatives of adjectives which already express an
extreme of comparison unique, for instance although it probably is possible to form
comparative forms of most adjectives" something can be more perfect, and someone can have a
fuller figure. <eople who argue that one woman cannot be more pregnant than another have never
been nine-months pregnant with twins.
Grammar's Response
According to %ryan 7arner, 1complete1 is one of those adjectives that does not admit of
comparative degrees. (e could say, however, 1more nearly complete.1 am sure that have not
been consistent in my application of this principle in the 7uide ) can hear myself, now, saying
something li$e 1less ade;uate1 or 1more preferable1 or 1less fatal1/. 5ther adjectives that 7arner
would include in this list are as follows"
absolute impossible principal
ade;uate inevitable stationary
chief irrevocable sufficient
complete main unanimous
devoid manifest unavoidable
entire minor unbro$en
fatal paramount uni;ue
final perpetual universal
ideal preferable whole
3rom The xford !ictionary of American "sage and #tyleby %ryan 7arner. 'opyright +,,= by
%ryan A. 7arner. <ublished by 5xford 6niversity <ress, nc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with
the gracious consent of 5xford 6niversity <ress.
%e careful, also, not to use more along with a comparative adjective formed with -er nor to use
most along with a superlative adjective formed with -est )e.g., do not write that something is more
heavier or most heaviest/.
The as $ as construction is used to create a comparison expressing e;uality"
#e is as foolish as he is large.
*he is as bright as her mother.
Premodifiers with Derees of Adjectives
%oth adverbs and adjectives in their comparative and superlative forms can be accompanied by
premodifiers, single words and phrases, that intensify the degree.
(e were a lot more careful this time.
#e wor$s a lot less carefully than the other jeweler in town.
(e li$e his wor$ so much better.
:ou'll get your watch bac$ all the faster.
The same process can be used to downplay the degree"
The weather this wee$ has been somewhat better.
#e approaches his schoolwor$ a little less industriously than his brother does.
And sometimes a set phrase, usually an informal noun phrase, is used for this purpose"
#e arrived a whole lot sooner than we expected.
That's a hec$ of a lot better.
f the intensifier very accompanies the superlative, a determiner is also re;uired"
*he is wearing her very finest outfit for the interview.
They're doing the very best they can.
5ccasionally, the comparative or superlative form appears with a determiner and the thing being
modified is understood"
5f all the wines produced in 'onnecticut, li$e this one the most.
The ;uic$er you finish this project, the better.
5f the two brothers, he is by far the faster.
Authority for this section" A "niversity %rammar of &nglish by >andolph ?uir$ and *idney
7reenbaum. &ongman 7roup" 2ssex, 2ngland. +,,@. 6sed with permission.
Less versus Fewer
(hen ma$ing a comparison between ;uantities we often have to ma$e a choice between
the words fewer and less. 7enerally, when we're tal$ing about countable things, we use
the word fewer0 when we're tal$ing about measurable ;uantities that we cannot count,
we use the word less. 1*he had fewer chores, but she also had less energy.1 The
managers at our local *top A *hop seem to have mastered this" they've changed the
signs at the so-called express lanes from 1Twelve tems or &ess1 to 1Twelve tems or
3ewer.1 (hether that's an actual improvement, we'll leave up to you.
(e do, however, definitely use less when referring to statistical or numerical
expressions"
t's less than twenty miles to Ballas.
#e's less than six feet tall.
:our essay should be a thousand words or less.
(e spent less than forty dollars on our trip.
The town spent less than four percent of its budget on snow removal.
n these situations, it's possible to regard the ;uantities as sums of countable measures.
Taller than I / me ??
(hen ma$ing a comparison with 1than1 do we end with a subject form or object form,
1taller than Cshe1 or 1taller than meCher.1 The correct response is 1taller than Cshe.1 (e
are loo$ing for the subject form" 1#e is taller than amCshe is tall.1 )2xcept we leave out
the verb in the second clause, 1am1 or 1is.1/ *ome good writers, however, will argue that
the word 1than1 should be allowed to function as a preposition. f we can say 1#e is tall
li$e meCher,1 then )if 1than1 could be prepositional li$e like/ we should be able to say,
1#e is taller than meCher.1 t's an interesting argument, but for now, anyway in
formal, academic prose, use the subject form in such comparisons.
(e also want to be careful in a sentence such as 1 li$e him better than sheCher.1 The
1she1 would mean that you li$e this person better than she li$es him0 the 1her1 would
mean that you li$e this male person better than you li$e that female person. )To avoid
ambiguity and the slippery use of than, we could write 1 li$e him better than she does1
or 1 li$e him better than li$e her.1/
More than / over ??
n the 6nited *tates, we usually use 1more than1 in countable numerical expressions
meaning 1in excess of1 or 1over.1 n 2ngland, there is no such distinction. 3or instance,
in the 6.*., some editors would insist on 1more than DE,EEE traffic deaths in one year,1
whereas in the 6F, 1over DE,EEE traffic deaths1 would be acceptable. 2ven in the 6.*.,
however, you will commonly hear 1over1 in numerical expressions of age, time, or
height" 1#is sister is over forty0 she's over six feet tall. (e've been waiting well over two
hours for her.1
%he &rder of Adjectives in a "eries
t would ta$e a linguistic philosopher to explain why we say 1little brown house1 and not 1brown
little house1 or why we say 1red talian sports car1 and not 1talian red sports car.1 The order in
which adjectives in a series sort themselves out is perplexing for people learning 2nglish as a
second language. !ost other languages dictate a similar order, but not necessarily the same order.
t ta$es a lot of practice with a language before this order becomes instinctive, because the order
often seems ;uite arbitrary )if not downright capricious/. There is, however, a pattern. :ou will
find many exceptions to the pattern in the table below, but it is definitely important to learn the
pattern of adjective order if it is not part of what you naturally bring to the language.
The categories in the following table can be described as follows"
. Determiners articles and other limiters. *ee Beterminers
. &bservation postdeterminers and limiter adjectives )e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot/
and adjectives subject to subjective measure )e.g., beautiful, interesting/
. "i'e and "ha!e adjectives subject to objective measure )e.g., wealthy, large, round/
G. Ae adjectives denoting age )e.g., young, old, new, ancient/
G. Color adjectives denoting color )e.g., red, blac$, pale/
G. &riin denominal adjectives denoting source of noun )e.g., 3rench, American,
'anadian/
G. (aterial denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of )e.g., woolen,
metallic, wooden/
G. )ualifier final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun )e.g., roc$ing chair, hunting
cabin, passenger car, boo$ cover/
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Determine
r
&bservatio
n
Physical Descri!tion &riin
(ateria
l
)ualifie
r
1oun
"i'e "ha!e Ae
Colo
r

a beautiful old talian touring car
an expensive
anti;u
e
silver mirror
four gorgeous
long-
stemme
d
red sil$ roses
her short blac$ hair
our big old 2nglish
sheepdo
g
those s;uare wooden hat boxes
that dilapidated little hunting cabin
several
enormou
s
young
America
n

bas$etba
ll
players
some delicious Thai food
.his chart is probably too wide to print on a standard piece o paper* - you click HERE$
you will get a one/page duplicate o this chart$ which you can print out on a regular
piece o paper*
t would be folly, of course, to run more than two or three )at the most/ adjectives together.
3urthermore, when adjectives belong to the same class, they become what we call coordinated
adjectives, and you will want to put a comma between them" the inexpensive, comfortable shoes.
The rule for inserting the comma wor$s this way" if you could have inserted a conjunction and
or but between the two adjectives, use a comma. (e could say these are 1inexpensive but
comfortable shoes,1 so we would use a comma between them )when the 1but1 isn't there/. (hen
you have three coordinated adjectives, separate them all with commas, but don't insert a comma
between the last adjective and the noun )in spite of the temptation to do so because you often
pause there/"
a popular, respected, and good loo$ing student
*ee the section on Commas for additional help in punctuating coordinated adjectives.
Ca!itali'in Pro!er Adjectives
(hen an adjective owes its origins to a proper noun, it should probably be capitali8ed. Thus we
write about 'hristian music, 3rench fries, the 2nglish <arliament, the !ing Bynasty, a
3aul$nerian style, 4effersonian democracy. *ome periods of time have ta$en on the status of
proper adjectives" the 9ixon era, a >enaissanceC>omanticCGictorian poet )but a contemporary
novelist and medieval writer/. Birectional and seasonal adjectives are not capitali8ed unless
they're part of a title"
(e too$ the northwest route during the spring thaw. (e stayed there until the town's annual 3all
3estival of *mall Appliances.
*ee the section on Ca!itali'ation for further help on this matter.
Collective Adjectives
(hen the definite article, the, is combined with an adjective describing a class or group of
people, the resulting phrase can act as a noun" the poor, the rich, the oppressed, the homeless, the
lonely, the unlettered, the unwashed, the gathered, the dear departed. The difference between a
Collective 1oun )which is usually regarded as singular but which can be plural in certain
contexts/ and a collective adjective is that the latter is always plural and re;uires a plural verb"
The rural poor have been ignored by the media.
The rich of 'onnecticut are responsible.
The elderly are beginning to demand their rights.
The young at heart are always a joy to be around.
Adjectival &!!osites
The opposite or the negative aspect of an adjective can be formed in a number of ways. 5ne way,
of course, is to find an adjective to mean the opposite an antonym. The opposite of beautiful is
ugly, the opposite of tall is short. A thesaurus can help you find an appropriate opposite. Another
way to form the opposite of an adjective is with a number of prefixes. The opposite of fortunate
is unfortunate, the opposite of prudent is imprudent, the opposite of considerate is inconsiderate,
the opposite of honorable is dishonorable, the opposite of alcoholic is nonalcoholic, the opposite
of being properly filed is misfiled. f you are not sure of the spelling of adjectives modified in this
way by prefixes )or which is the appropriate prefix/, you will have to consult a dictionary, as the
rules for the selection of a prefix are complex and too shifty to be trusted. The meaning itself can
be tric$y0 for instance, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing.
A third means for creating the opposite of an adjective is to combine it with less or least to create
a comparison which points in the opposite direction. nteresting shades of meaning and tone
become available with this usage. t is $inder to say that 1This is the least beautiful city in the
state.1 than it is to say that 1This is the ugliest city in the state.1 )t also has a slightly different
meaning./ A candidate for a job can still be worthy and yet be 1less worthy of consideration1 than
another candidate. t's probably not a good idea to use this construction with an adjective that is
already a negative" 1#e is less unluc$y than his brother,1 although that is not the same thing as
saying he is luc$ier than his brother. 6se the comparative less when the comparison is between
two things or people0 use the superlative least when the comparison is among many things or
people.
!y mother is less patient than my father.
5f all the new sitcoms, this is my least favorite show.
"ome Adjectival Problem Children
Good versus Well
n both casual speech and formal writing, we fre;uently have to choose between the
adjective good and the adverb well. (ith most verbs, there is no contest" when
modifying a verb, use the adverb.
#e swims well.
#e $nows only too well who the murderer is.
#owever, when using a linkin verb or a verb that has to do with the five human senses,
you want to use the adjective instead.
#ow are youH 'm feeling good, than$ you.
After a bath, the baby smells so good.
2ven after my careful paint job, this room doesn't loo$ good.
!any careful writers, however, will use well after lin$ing verbs relating to health, and
this is perfectly all right. n fact, to say that you are good or that you feel good usually
implies not only that you're 5F physically but also that your spirits are high.
1#ow are youH1
1 am well, than$ you.1
Bad versus Badly
(hen your cat died )assuming you loved your cat/, did you feel bad or badlyH Applying
the same rule that applies to good versus well, use the adjective form after verbs that
have to do with human feelings. :ou felt bad. f you said you felt badly, it would mean
that something was wrong with your faculties for feeling.
&ther Adjectival Considerations
>eview the section on Com!ound 1ouns and (odifiers for the formation of modifiers created
when words are connected" a four-year-old child, a nineteenth-century novel, an empty-headed
fool.
>eview the section on Possessives for a distinction between possessive forms and 1adjectival
labels.1 )Bo you belong to a (riters 'lub or a (riters' 'lubH/
Adjectives that are really Partici!les, verb forms with -ing and -ed endings, can be troublesome
for some students. t is one thing to be a frightened child0 it is an altogether different matter to be
a frightening child. Bo you want to go up to your professor after class and say that you are
confused or that you are confusingH 7enerally, the -ed ending means that the noun so described
)1you1/ has a passive relationship with something something )the subject matter, the
presentation/ has bewildered you and you are confused. The -ing ending means that the noun
described has a more active role you are not ma$ing any sense so you are confusing )to others,
including your professor/.
The -ed ending modifiers are often accompanied by prepositions )these are not the only choices/"
(e were ama8ed at all the circus animals.
(e were amused by the clowns.
(e were annoyed by the elephants.
(e were bored by the ringmaster.
(e were confused by the noise.
(e were disappointed by the motorcycle daredevils.
(e were disappointed in their performance.
(e were embarrassed by my brother.
(e were exhausted from all the excitement.
(e were excited by the lion-tamer.
(e were excited about the high-wire act, too.
(e were frightened by the lions.
(e were introduced to the ringmaster.
(e were interested in the tent.
(e were irritated by the heat.
(e were opposed to leaving early.
(e were satisfied with the circus.
(e were shoc$ed at the level of noise under the big tent.
(e were surprised by the fans' response.
(e were surprised at their indifference.
(e were tired of all the lights after a while.
(e were worried about the traffic leaving the par$ing lot.
A- Adjectives
The most common of the so-called a- adjectives are abla8e, afloat, afraid, aghast, alert, ali$e,
alive, alone, aloof, ashamed, asleep, averse, awa$e, aware. These adjectives will primarily show
up as predicate adjectives )i.e., they come after a lin$ing verb/.
The children were ashamed.
The professor remained aloof.
The trees were abla8e.
5ccasionally, however, you will find a- adjectives before the word they modify" the alert patient,
the aloof physician. !ost of them, when found before the word they modify, are themselves
modified" the nearly awa$e student, the terribly alone scholar. And a- adjectives are sometimes
modified by 1very much1" very much afraid, very much alone, very much ashamed, etc.
,econi'in Adjectives
Adjective &rder
Adjectives


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